How The Brain Really Works In Making Decisions

I’ve always been very fascinated by the brain. When I was a kid, I tried to figure out how to convince my mum to let me have the cookie before dinner. When I was a teenager, I tried to convince my parents that letting me come back home late is a good idea. And when I was in my late teen, I tried to persuade girls that it’s cool to go out with me.

As much as I hate to admit it, as I grew older, the people that I need to persuade increases. There’s the job interview, then there’s the marriage, then there’s the strategic partnership with my partners, then having discussing whether or not we should have a kid and when my son was finally born, I have to persuade him the fact that having a cookie before dinner ISN’T a good idea.

The list goes on. You get the idea.

But when I talk about salesmanship, people tend to cringe.

Ew, selling. Pushy. Hype. Distractions. I don’t want to have anything to do with that. People are literally willing to pay you to stop advertising to them. That’s not a typo.

A recent study showed that people are willing to live in  a slightly lower standard of living in a society where there are no advertisements.

And so you’ve got these so called “soft selling” and ads that entertains… not sell!

But fact is, like it or not, you do it too. In a democratic country, no one is the absolute emperor, and therefore no one can live life without persuasion. And that makes us ALL salesmen. Salesmen convince their prospects to buy because they want them to do that.

We too convince others to do what we want them to do. Heck, even a job interview is selling.

So I don’t care what you do. Listen up because this is important.

The Single Most Important Factor In Persuasion

So what is the secret in persuasion? What do salesmen learn in marketing programs that you can use to improve your life?

When it comes to salesmanship and selling, I wholeheartedly believe that the most important thing you should GET are psychological triggers. Or in simple terms - how the human brain works. As you probably already know, psychology is a huge field.

I’m not going to swim all over the sea of psychology here. I’m going to dive deep instead. I’m going to dive deep into one specific topic of psychology - and that is how the brain comes to a decision. This is a crucial part of psychology because well… it affects not just your ability to persuade, conscious knowledge of it also improves the quality of your decisions.

The Post Purchase Effect Of Decision

I walked into a travel agency one day, looking for a tour package to Egypt. A young attractive lady came up to me and asked how she could help.

“I would like to travel to Egypt.” was my simple reply. “Do you want a group tour? Or a private tour? Do you like a more adventurous journey, or are you looking forward to a nice quiet holiday? Do you want everything to be included or are you looking for a separate kind of a deal? And what sort of budget are we talking about here?”

Once upon a time choice was a good thing. Why? Because we had none.

Today, choices are more of a chore. Wherever we go, we are faced with choices. The jeans store have 101 types of jeans. Ice cream have 50 flavors. Even university education varies. And as much as you like to think otherwise, you HATE choices.

That’s because when you made a decision and things don’t turn out the way you want to be… you regret it. You beat yourself over the head.

And if things DO turn out to be what you want them to be, you regret the fact that you DIDN’T choose the other choice because things might have turned out BETTER.

Yet in business, marketers try to produce as much choice as possible. They try to extend their product line to a mind-numbing range and you know what it does. It reduces satisfaction for every purchase.

But that’s just post purchase effect on choice. Now let’s take a look at the pre-purchase effect - the one that really affects sales…

It’s not about what you want. It’s about what you don’t want.

A group of researchers did a study on the purchase of jams and here’s what they found: When they offered 6 different flavors, 30% ended up buying. But when they offered 24 different flavors… only 3% converted.

Think that’s an isolated result? Think again.

Another study was actually done on employee 410(k) matching compensation. Now, let me clarify that that matching is like free money. If you don’t participate, it’s like leaving money on the table your employer would have otherwise paid you.

The study found that for every 10 mutual fund choices added, they saw a 2% decrease in participation.

I want you to pause here and think about it for a second.

People literally leave money on the table just to avoid making a choice.

Why? Because making choices is a chore! We often think we look down the list of choices and choose what we want. No we don’t!

We look down the list and eliminate those we DON’T WANT!

This long process of elimination is a lot of mental work… well, at least for your unconscious brain! And since we are all lazy creatures by nature, we tend to avoid it like the plague!

That’s why when I ask a girl out, I don’t give her a choice where we should go on our first date. And if you’re a wise persuader, you’d better reduce the number of choices you give others to make!